Read It Again
by UniqaChica
Summary: A late evening with our favorite partners.  And Rick's got a new manuscript.


(A/N: I was thinking about something dramatic, but this has been in my files forever. So I finally finished it and decided to post some fluff instead (because God knows that we need it). Enjoy!)

Disclaimer: I do not own "Castle."

Read It Again

A Castle/Beckett Fanfic

by Jill Diamond

"Read it again…" Kate hummed lazily, nudging him with her heel.

"Again?" Rick chuckled, even though he was more than happy to oblige.

"It was good. I wanna hear it again." Even though she would never admit it, even now, Kate's green eyes were drooping slightly. They were still bright, but her body wanted her to go to sleep whether she knew it or not.

"Alright, alright." He shifted a bit under Kate's bent knees and turned back to the first page of the manuscript. "'The night was warm. The stars seemed to burn with even brighter power just for their purpose tonight. Nikki Heat walked along the winding path in Central Park just as the moon peeked out from the security blanket of clouds, tenderly caressing her beautiful face with its light.'"

"You're such a flatterer," Kate giggled.

"'Her heart was surprisingly light on this night. It no longer suffocated in her chest, but rather breathed easily. She could hardly believe it herself, but she found her lips smiling. She knew Rook would never understand why she was late for their coffee date, but for once she wanted to take the long way. Breathe for a moment. Not have to rush anywhere and have unfortunate circumstance thrust at her. To her surprise, she saw him up ahead on the path, wringing his strong hands through his dark, lustrous hair in a way that made her insides flop ever so slightly.'"

Kate nudged him again, a little harder. Rick smiled in spite. His voice deepened with emphasis.

"'The handsome journalist caught sight of her lovely form, his deep blue eyes effortlessly glistening-'"

"Okay, yeah, skip to the good part," Kate hummed, trying to hide her smirk by burying her face in her long hair.

Rick flipped a few pages over the hasty staple before he found the good part.

"If you wanted to hear this again, you could have said so."

"Just read."

He cleared his throat.

"'His palm seemed to fit against her cheek perfectly as he drew her in closer, breathing in the scent of her addicting cherry shampoo. There seemed to be little oxygen between them, as he was losing his breath, and they had not even kissed yet. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever known; the seemingly simple act of becoming lost in her smoky green eyes was a trip to the moon in itself. He tried to choke back his imperfections as he kept eye contact, bending down. He gazed upon her as if she was the only thing that existed, and in that moment, she was.

'"Nikki," he breathed slightly, afraid she might not hear him, "these years we've spent together have been the most important in my life. _You _are the most important person in my life. You must understand that." He reached inside his coat. The only movement from Nikki was a blink or two. Her eyes began to shine, and not just from the full moon and the neon lights surrounding them. He pulled out the present, opening the box in one swift movement, bathing it in a multicolored gleam. "Will you marry me?"'

"All you had to do was ask," Kate supplied in a nasally voice.

Rick looked down at her from the other end of the couch.

"No, that's what _you _said," he corrected with a smile.

"Which is exactly why _she _should have said it," Kate fired back sheepishly.

"I thought you said it wasn't right to put our entire personal life on page."

"…That was before you proposed," she shrugged.

Rick smiled wider and tossed the fake manuscript he had typed up that afternoon onto the coffee table. He laid his hand on hers and began to stroke it tenderly with his thumb. Her eyes were _really _droopy by this point.

Her free hand reached up and began to slide back and forth across her stomach, which was just starting to swell.

"Maternity leave's gonna be hell," she moaned.

"Hey, it'll be good just to know that you're here at home, and not chasing down dangerous dirt bags _in heels._ Once you're on leave, you shall wear nothing but slippers."

Another nudge to his thigh.

"Gates has kept me from fieldwork for the past three weeks. It's not like me not going in is gonna change anything."

Rick poked his index finger lightly on her nose.

"That. That is the reason. Stress. You, Katherine Beckett Castle, are a workaholic. You need to relax."

"Relaxation doesn't catch killers," she stated simply.

"But you won't be catching killers – you're going to stay right here and watch all our DVD box sets of _Temptation Lane_. And you are going to _like it._"

Kate wasn't sure if he was serious or just pushing her buttons.

"Or I could just spend all day trying to dig out those baby pictures of yours that Martha _mysteriously _lost." Her eyebrow arched in that way that intimidated and infatuated him at the same time.

"I thought you loved me," he said with his fingertips grazing his chest in that feigning way as if he were protecting his ego.

Kate slowly pushed herself up from the downy pillows into a sitting position, leaning in to almost rest against his shoulder.

"Richard Castle, you should know by now that our love is extremely unconventional." She punctuated herself by pecking his ear.

With a warm smile, he wrapped his arm around her back, and then slid her around to a more comfortable position, in which his lap was the pillow. That was the way Alexis found them the next morning.

_The End_

(A/N: Yay! Don't have much more to say except that, as always, reviews make me feel fuzzy! Hope you enjoyed!)


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